Brad Pitt says he didn’t take his shirt off because Legends of the Fall had just made him a sex symbol. Still, he won the MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male for this role.

Biography Notes
Director David Fincher was determined to make Se7en without compromising his vision. On his first film, Aliens 3, Fincher battled with the studio and was fired 3 times.

Gwyneth Paltrow is a huge star now, but she’d only had a few roles when Se7en came out in 1995.

Quoting Shakespeare comes easy to Morgan Freeman. He’s appeared in many productions by the New York Shakespeare Festival.

Brad Pitt and David Fincher became good friends filming Se7en. Pitt has gone on to star in Fincher’s Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

David Fincher has worked with Yoda. One of his first film jobs was on Return of the Jedi.

After 2007’s Zodiac, Fincher said he didn’t have to make another serial killer movie ever again.

Casting NotesPitt says he took this role “to escape the cheese” after Legends of the Fall.

Fincher worried that Se7en was too mean for Morgan Freeman, but he was the first one to join the cast.

The DA is actor Richard Roundtree who famously played Shaft. Can you dig it?

Fashion Notes
Pitt bought his own ties for the movie. He wanted his character, Mills, to have no fashion sense.

Finance NotesSe7en cost about $33 million to make and grossed over $328 million worldwide at the box office.

History Notes
In 2001, the Patriot Act gave the government the ability to monitor library records.

Location Notes
One of the scenes was shot in the Ambassador Hotel, where Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.

Love Notes
Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow fell in love while shooting Se7en. They got engaged while Pitt was shooting Seven Years in Tibet, but split shortly after.

Music Notes
“Closer” by Nine Inch Nails is one of the songs featured in the movie. NIN’s Trent Reznor later won an Oscar for scoring Fincher’s The Social Network.

Composer Howard Shore’s score is used sparingly and strategically in the movie. It will let you know when a crime or clue is on the horizon. He also scored another little serial killer movie — The Silence of the Lambs.

Pop-culture Notes
The year of this movie, Brad Pitt was voted People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive. Paltrow has said that Morgan Freeman is the “REAL Sexiest Man.”

Entertainment Weekly ranked Se7en as the eighth scariest movie of all time.

Se7en is a career highlight for stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, but the big breakthrough star of the movie was director David Fincher.